Looking Back: Steve Turner, a mortician, tells his story

Steve Turner, a Freeport mortician or “undertaker” as the designation was once more commonly known, does not consider his job morbid in any way.

By Harriett Gustason

Journal Standard

By Harriett Gustason

Posted Jun. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 29, 2013 at 3:56 PM

By Harriett Gustason

Posted Jun. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 29, 2013 at 3:56 PM

FREEPORT

Steve Turner, a Freeport mortician or “undertaker” as the designation was once more commonly known, does not consider his job morbid in any way.

He looks on it as an opportunity to help people through their particular grief. Even a little “appropriate” humor is not out of line, says Steve Turner. He believes light, sensitive humor is a good way to reduce stress for the people mourning the loss of a loved one.

Steve likes it when presiding pastors employ some humor in their eulogies. For Steve, humor makes those final words a sentimental, more intimate, tribute.

One person Steve mentions, who has sided with him in this, is the Rev. Arthur Stees, former longtime pastor of First Lutheran Church in Freeport. According to Steve, he and Stees have shared many lighter moments with each other, lending, of course, the compassion, respect and solemnity due the occasion.

Steve likes to greet the lines of people attending a visitation with friendly words. He says people often tell him they don’t know what to say to the mourners. He tells them their words are not what will be remembered. “It’ll be that you were here.”

Steve’s Story

Steve Turner grew up in the funeral business. He is the third generation of Turners to enter the field of mortuary science.

He said his grandfather, Albert “Bert” Turner, operated a furniture store in Erie, Ill., along with his business, and also sold Kodak film. There were hitching posts outside his business for guests to tie their horses.

The Freeport destiny began when his father, also Albert Turner, came to Freeport in 1938 to serve a six-month apprenticeship with the Walker Mortuary, and was then to return to Erie to run his father’s business. Steve’s father stayed, however, and always liked to say, “It was a long six months.” Albert Turner lived to run the business until his son took over. He died in 1984.

Steve followed his father into the operation and eventual ownership of Walker Mortuary in Freeport. He values the experience he had working with his father. “Dad used to let me try things, teaching me various aspects of the business,” Steve said. “Back when they used to ship bodies by train, I’d go with my dad to pick them up and bring them back to Freeport.”

He remembers one very embarrassing incident.

They’d go on these trips in the big ornate hearses used 40 or so years ago, and that caused quite a bit of stir. “I was so embarrassed,” Steve said. “One time when my father drove up to a fast food place where the waitresses came to the car to take your order, none of the waitresses wanted to serve us.” From what he said, we believe Steve felt like dying himself.

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Steve said he had met a lot of morticians, but one stands out very special to him. Stanley Daughenbaugh of the Daughenbaugh Funeral Home in the village of Dakota is one that has had a special impact on his life. “I learned a lot from him,” Steve said. “I’ve never met a better caregiver than Stanley Daughenbaugh.” In 2007 Steve Turner purchased the Daughenbaugh Funeral Home and the two men remain close friends. Steve noted that many mortuaries, like other small businesses, are consolidating these days.

Steve is proud to say the building which now houses Walker Mortuary and Crematory was the first building in Freeport to be used for funerals, a “funeral home.” Before that the services were held in the home of the deceased, or in churches. Some were said to be held in makeshift settings such as store fronts or simply at the grave site.

The Walker Name

“Charles Walker started this Walker Mortuary in 1923,” Steve Turner said. “He got married and started this business all about the same time. He married Esther Hermsmeier and then in about 1925 he died, leaving Mrs. Walker with the brand new building and no training to run the business.”

“Most people thought she would fail,” Steve said, “but Mrs. Walker was pretty smart and pretty tough. She was a Hermsmeier and her family ran a grocery store on Main Street across from today’s Fifth-Third Bank.”

Steve said Mrs. Walker went on to become quite wealthy owning stock in the local telephone company at the time, and First National Bank. He said she also owned a lot of property such as apartment buildings.

“She owned a home near Lake Delevan,” Steve said, “and let our family vacation there.” He remembers the special Christmas presents she always gave him as a child.

“Mrs. Walker had a heart attack and turned the operation of the business over to my dad,” Steve said. “She insisted on excellence and personal service. She died in 1972.”

Steve Turner couldn’t say enough about Mrs. Walker’s generosity to individuals and to the community. The only thing about her though, Steve said, she didn’t want anyone to know she was contributing to all of those things. He said she was very strict about that. Steve said she helped him finance his schooling and “helped a lot of people go to school.”

He smiles remembering when he was a child Mrs. Walker gave him a fly swatter and promised him a penny for every fly he killed at the funeral home.

Steve’s father operated the business for her until 1970 when he bought the business in October. Steve said his father was president of Freeport’s Oakland Cemetery Association for a long time.

Steve came into the business in 1973, and in 1975 formed a partnership with his father. They ran it together until his father retired. He died in 1994. Steve has been in this business for 40 years. He added the crematorium in 2007. “We have two,” he says,”one for people and one for pets.” Over the years he’s seen, like all morticians, the increased regulations by OSHA and EPA.

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Steve highly commends his staff, praising them for their caring ways and able assistance. He said he wouldn’t have anyone who didn’t have those traits.

Changing Trends

Steve Turner has seen a number of changes in the funeral business, one being, over the years, the choosing of cremation over burial. During his time he has seen the option of cremation over burial rise from 5 percent to about 40 percent, the other change being the widespread requirement of pre-payment of costs. He also notes the growing practice of skipping the visitation and viewing of the body being substituted by the memorial service, but he believes the visitation has a valuable place in bolstering the bereaved and offering solace. People often tell him they don’t know what to say, but he reassures them, “It won’t be what you say that they remember, but that you were there.”

Turner is most thankful to his father who always looked at things in a positive manner. His father’s philosophy was always, “Everything will be taken care of.” He believes those principles of excellence in caring and service demanded by Esther Walker, and his father, have prevailed to this day.

“Yes, we’ve seen some terrible things,” Steve said, “and we’ve seen many wonderful things. We’ve loved being in this occupation, helping people through bad times. You have to like people to do this, and most of all, you have to have their trust. Trust is the whole thing,” Steve Turner stated flatly.

Harriett Gustason is a writer for The Journal-Standard. She can be reached at 815-235-3855 or hg3855@comcast.net.